Fastest Saloon on the 'Ring?

2012 BMW M5 F10

It's possible, very possible! The M5 E60 put in a time of 8:13, putting it in with the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and the Ferrari 355 GTB. Now, rumor has it that the new F10 put in a lap time of 7:55, which is a second faster than the Chevy Corvette C6 Z06 and the Porsche 996 Turbo and 4 seconds faster than the Cadillac CTS-V sedan. This also puts the car up there with the Ferrari F430 F1 and the Caterham R500 Superlight. Remember, this is only a rumor! But, if it were true, this would make the BMW M5 F10 the fastest saloon to go round the Nürburgring. Sounds fantastic!

Sabine, Your New Taxi is Here!

2012 BMW M5 F10 'Ring Taxi

So, if you were watching the Nürburgring 24 Hour race last weekend, you were probably thinking to yourself, "Man! That is one intense track!" You're right! It is! Mastering the track takes days, weeks, or even months to accomplish. There are more than 150 corners you must conquer in order to completely dominate this track. That can take an awfully long time, but, thankfully, Sabine Schmitz will be willing to help you out. Known as the "Queen of the Ring", Sabine has been the official Nürburgring taxi driver for many years in a BMW M5, and she will be once again with the all new M5 F10. BMW personally took the car here to test the car's ride, handling, and power. It's been notified by many drivers as one of the best performance sedans ever. And now, it's gotten much better with a more powerful 4.4-liter Twin-Turbo 552 horsepower V8 engine which shoots the car from 0 to 60 in 4.4 seconds on its way to a top speed of 190 MPH (limiter off). As usual, the car will wear the special M Power livery as did the old M5 E60. Only this time, Sabine will shed some seconds off her previous lap times in the old M5.

It's Official! Forza has won!

2012 BMW M5 F10 (Forza Motorsport 4)

I don't think GT5 can rightly redeem itself unless they plan on releasing some DLCs, but it seems that this year, Forza has the upper hand. A limited collector's edition of Forza 4 has just been announced and on the special disc, you'll be able to drive the most powerful M car ever created: the 2012 BMW M5 Sedan. With its 4.4-liter Twin-Turbocharged V8 engine producing 552 horsepower, this car will do 0 to 60 in 4.4 seconds and, with the limiter off, will do 190 MPH. Also included in this LCE pack is special CD cover with the M5 on it. Of course, if you just want the car, it will be available for everyone a few days after the game comes out as part of the FM4 BMW M5 fan pack DLC. The car will be enabled with FM4's new Autovista mode, with Top Gear's own Jeremy Clarkson giving this car a proper workout. Also, the car will be added to your garage and a BMW M5 theme will be available to download to your Xbox 360 system. But the M5 isn't the only special car you'll receive in the special pack. You'll also receive the 2008 BMW M3 E92 Coupe, the 2008 BMW Z4 M Coupe,  and the BMW M1 Coupe. Anything else? As a matter of fact, yes! Bundled with the main disc is a special VIP car disk which will give you instant access to these fine rides:

• 2011 Bugatti Veyron Super Sport
• 2011 Ferrari 458 Challenge
• 2010 Noble M600
• 2011 RUF Rt 12 R

Not to mention, if you order early, FM4 will give you the "Launch Bonus" car pack which includes these fine five motors:

• 1965 Ford Mustang GT Coupe
• 2011 Koenigsegg Agera
• 1997 Lexus SC300
• 2011 RUF RGT-8
• 2011 Tesla Roadster Sport

But wait! There's More! There's a 10-car add-on pack of Muscle cars that will be available by the time of launch on Xbox Live Marketplace, VIP status in Forza Forums, including special recognition in new community features, leaderboards, and forzamotorsport.net. Meanwhile, back in the actual world, you'll receive book titled "Cars of Forza Motorsport 4 Presented by Top Gear" written by the Top Gear team themselves, that describes the in-game cars from the Autovista experience and features imagery from the game and the Top Gear library and, of course, vinyl stickers featuring the logos of Forza 4, Turn 10 Studios, and Top Gear. So if you want all of this for your Xbox 360, just go here and pre-order.

Breaking News: Your German Rocket is Ready!

2012 BMW M5 F10

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen. At last, presenting the all-new 2012 BMW M5. BMW have put a lot of beef and granite into this car to make it the best high performance saloon out there, even if it's not the most powerful. The remarkable 4.4-liter Twin-Turbocharged V8 engine pumps out 552 horsepower, 4 horses short of the supercharged Cadillac CTS-V Sedan. 0 to 60 is done in 4.4 seconds, 1.3 seconds faster than the E60, but 0.5 seconds slower than the Cadillac CTS-V. It's top speed is limited to 155 MPH, but if you buy the M-Drivers Package, it gets lifted to 190 MPH, which is 7 slower than the Cadillac CTS-V. Anyway, who am I to judge this car by its American competitor. We've waited a hefty long time for this car to come back, and now it has. Sabine Schmitz, this is your new 'Ring taxi. Check out the Facebook page for more photos.

M5 Track Day

2012 BMW Concept M5 (F10)

It looks like BMW's getting ready to debut their premier sports saloon, the M5. Rumor has it that with the limiter off, it will reach 200 MPH on its new 4.4-liter Twin-Turbocharged 552 horsepower V8 engine. That is quite fast for a heavy saloon, even though when it will be released, the limiters will be jammed on. Anyway, other equipment include a new M-Sport 7-speed DCT (Dual-Clutch Transmission), an optional 6-speed manual, and, if possible, X-Drive All-Wheel Drive. Now, I know some of you might be looking at this and getting all angry at BMW for putting All-Wheel Drive and a sports saloon, but this is actually a very good idea. Yes, it might relieve the joy of doing donuts or drifting around corners for pleasure, but what about when it rains or snows? You'll need traction to keep the tires down. The only carmaker I know that can do this with rear-wheel drive is Jaguar. In fact, they've done it on all three cars. But, as for everyone else, all-wheel drive is the way to go, and I think this will come in handy. Well, hopefully they'll make the models separate. Anyway, back to the matter at hand, the production M5 F10 was seen a track in Miramas, France doing some proper rear-wheel drifting for all you tail-happy fans out there. Check out the action below and be sure to tune in this fall at the Frankfurt Motor Show when the car is unveiled.

2012 BMW Concept M5 (Photos)

[Source: BMW & AutoBlog]

German Rocket

2012 BMW Concept M5 F10

The original German rocket has returned with more power and a new face. Say hello to the all new BMW M5. The old 5.0-liter 500 horsepower V10 has been ditched for an all new 4.4-liter 580 horsepower Twin-Turbocharged V8 engine. BMW says it will do 0 to 60 in just about 4.2 seconds on its way to a limited top speed of 155 MPH. With the limiter off, BMW project it will hit over 190 MPH. It will be quite exciting to see just how high the engine revs in the new F10. The old E60 revs all the way to 8,000 RPMs. Anyway, the car also features BMW's new 7-speed M DCT (Dual-Clutch Transmission) with Drivelogic to modify shift behavior and speed. Combine that with Auto-Start-Stop functionality and you've got a car that produces 25% less emissions than the old V10 E60. BMW didn't say much about the interior. In fact you can't even see through the blacked-out windows, even at the showroom in Germany. Looks like we're gonna have to wait til September when the production model gets revealed. As for now, the Concept M5 will hit the Shanghai Motor Show this month. What BMW did tell me is that they've gone back to the drawing board with this car, really churning out the beef and granite to produce a true monster. It looks good. I hope performs as well as it looks. Check out the car's big reveal below.

Breaking News: BMW Takes the Covers Off!

2012 BMW Concept M5 F10 (Courtesy of Jalopnik)

You've waited a lifetime for it, and now it's here. BMW have finally pulled the covers off the BMW M5. All those close to real renderings can be compared to the real thing. This is Germany's top sports saloon. Ok, enough monologuing. Time to get down to business. This thing packs close to 600 horsepower from a 4.4-liter Twin-Turbocharged V8 engine. It's gone through some insane testing in the Alps, on German roads, and, of course, on the Nürburgring. It packs all those performance braun, and yet can still seat 3 kids, a wife or girlfriend, and yourself. Note that this is just a concept car, but don't deny the look. Some of BMW's concept cars, like the Concept 6 back in the beginning of the year and concept M3 a few years back, tend to look exactly the same when production time comes. BMW has already slated this car to make its production debut at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September. Get Ready for that. Check back here for official photos or check Jalopnik for their take on the car.

[Source: Jalopnik]

April Fools from BMW

2012 BMW M3 Pickup

So, if you thought that I was fooling about the M3 Pickup truck, here's some REAL pictures of the car in REAL life. It's still BMW's April Fools joke, but the car is REAL. BMW claims that it's the fastest pickup in the world, even faster than the Dodge Ram SRT-10. The Ram will go up to 155 MPH. This topped out on the Nürburgring at 186 MPH. The 414 horsepower 4.4-liter V8 engine really does wonders for this truck. And, since it's 110 lb. than the regular M3 convertible, it will make much quicker turns. What's also interesting is that BMW actually put this truck in a wind tunnel and found out that it has the same drag coefficient of the M3 Coupe. And it gets better. You can drive this as a targa; the roof can be taken off, shedding another 44 lb. off the truck. So, it works, it looks cool, and it might the best M3 BMW has ever made. It's a shame that it will never be on public roads. But, BMW has told me that it will serve as the workshop transport vehicle for the M-Division. At least they found some use for it. Oh, and one other thing. You see that car under the wraps right behind the M3 Pickup? That's the 2012 BMW M5 F10 Concept. You've all been waiting for that, and BMW specifically said that they would not break their promise of showing that car to you today. Stay Tuned!

M5 Shakedown

2012 BMW M5 F10 Rendering (Courtesy of BMWBlog and Gerald Alvarez)

Nope, sorry this isn't the M5 Concept due this Friday. This is just another rendering by Gerald Alvarez, which is actually somewhat spot on. Friday's coming any faster than this, but BMW will continue to wet our appetite of their new sports saloon by showing us what it's been doing. They've recently released a video where the M5 Prototype was busy doing a snow workout in the Alps. The car seems to handle snow just fine. If you listen carefully to the engine sound, you may notice that it doesn't "V8-ty". This is BMW's new 4.4-liter Twin-Turbo V8 engine which revs to 7000 RPMs.  The X5 M and X6 M use this same engine and if you watch any car videos with these SUVs, you can tell that they sound exactly the same. This is because of the new Turbo system BMW has introduced into its M-Division called Twin-Power Turbo. Now that the Turbos deliver more boost power to the engine, they also change the engine note. So, if you buy the M5 and listen the engine sound thinking it sounds like a Ferrari, that's normal. You may even be grateful. Anyway, back to the M5, 30 minutes of testing was filmed with the M5 Prototype. You can see the snowy action below.

This Isn't a Joke

2012 BMW M5 F10 Rendering (Courtesy of Jon Sibal)

BMW have officially planned to take all of the stickers and masking tape off of the M5 this Friday. Get Ready for that! The new sports saloon is supposed to have about 600 horsepower from an improved 4.4-liter twin-turbo V8 engine. Top speeds will vary from 155 all the way to 190 MPH. Take all of the limiters off, this thing will be doing 200 with ease. It's taken BMW a couple of years to develop this car, so it ought to be very good.

Everyone Loves the Manual

2012 BMW M5 F10 Prototype (Courtesy of AutoBlog)

Look Out Mercedes and Jaguar! The BMW M5 is back, and its bringing more power with it. We're talkin about BMW's new 4.4-liter Twin-Turbocharged 600 horsepower V8 that has been tweaked from the insanely fast X5M. BMW says this car will do 0 to 60 in about 4.0 seconds on its way to a limited top speed 155 MPH. They also recently told me that the car will be available with a 6-speed manual shifter, which should make you manual fans happy. I personally prefer their 7-speed DSG because it's easier to use and shifts faster than the manual. Either manual or automatic, if you live in Europe and decide to buy the car there, you will be given the option of raising the limiter from 155 to about 190 MPH. That's faster than the limit on the Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG. Could this be the ultimate German sports saloon? We'll have to find out. The car is scheduled to make its official debut sometime this fall at the Frankfurt Motor Show. Tune in then!

Twin-Turbo Goodness

2012 BMW Alpina B5 BiTurbo

BMW's new F10 M5 is almost here and there are a lot of people who can't wait for it. But, when it comes out later this year, and you think you can't afford it, BMW will have an alternative 5-series that you can enjoy. They call it the Alpina B5 BiTurbo and although it might not have as much power as the new M5, it's just as good. The 4.4-liter Twin-Turbocharged V8 engine produces 500 horsepower. 0 to 60 is done in just 4.8 seconds on its way to a limited top speed of 186 MPH. This sounds like a good car, right? But, what if you need something like this that will carry a months supply of groceries? Well, BMW has thought of that as well.

2012 BMW Alpina B5 BiTurbo Touring

This is the B5 BiTurbo Touring. It has all the same statistics and features that the regular saloon has, except this has 5-doors and large trunk space. Unfortunately, to own this Über Wagon or the saloon, you'll have to have a big wallet and a house in Europe. BMW never planned to release the Alpina B5 over here in the U.S. But, do not despair. The Alpina brand does exist in America, in the body of a 7-series.

2011 BMW Alpina B7 BiTurbo

This executive sedan is for the man who wants his own "M7". It has the same engine as the B5, only with more luxury, better looks, more speed, and all-wheel drive. But, if you love the 5-series, the good 'ol M5 will be out soon, and that's more powerful and faster than the B5, so everyone's happy.